Posted by Jay_Bravest_Face on June 24, 2008, at 23:23:41
In reply to Re: Lou's request for clarification-zroastr, posted by Sigismund on June 24, 2008, at 18:18:19
> I was born into an "Onward Christian Soldiers' sort of Christianity which much later made me oversensitive to certain types of glory.
>
> (I don't see how it is that much different to getting up in the morning and shouting out 'We are the greatest', three times before breakfast.)
>
> That's my problem with Heaven actually...so much glory, the Sanctus from Bach's B minor Mass notwithstanding.What I was trying to get at in my post. Theology of the Cross takes us away from our own selfish attitudes, and self-righteousness of the bless-me clubs, and the Glory clubs. One interesting little fact. In the book Whats So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey, he notes that Jesus spent far more time with sinners and outcasts then saints. The sinners had no pretense and where honest, while the Saints put on airs, judged him, and sought to catch him in a moral trap.
The Glorified always tried to force a happy face, no matter what. According to the theology of the cross, who Jesus was and what he taught constitutes our most sure knowledge of God. True knowledge of God (and therefore hope) comes from knowing that in Christ God comes near to us in mercy and love. True knowledge of God, that is, then comes from knowing grace.
So, it follows, therefore, that the theological category that most makes sense of Christian hope is NOT optimism; it is Grace. Heaven's Gates may feel more like the deepest love you've ever known, not some typical setting of the Gates and trumpets and all.
Jay
poster:Jay_Bravest_Face
thread:832600
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20080404/msgs/836324.html